Multiple stage cyclonic separator



H. RQDMAN MULTIPLE STAGE CYCLONIC SEPARATOR Filed Nov'. 29', 1944 Off Ca 79:7 :gif

June 25, A1946.

Patented .lune 25, i946 402345 MULTIPLE s'rAGE cYcLomc snrAnA'ron`- Hugh Rodman, Oak Park, lll.,\ assignor to Unl- 'versal Oli Products Company, Chicago, lll., a

corporation of Delaware- Application November 29, 1944, Serial No. 565,730

This invention relates to an' improvement inthe cyclone type of separator for separating finely divided and suspended particles from afluid stream. The new -form ofthe device provides stages of increasing velocity of fluid ilow and makes a particle separation for each velocity stage. More specically the invention is concerned with a` device for the improved separation .of suspended particles from a iluid stream containing the same, vby providing for successive separations in a plurality o! stages, It in addi-- tion provides for increasing linear velocity and angularvor spinning velocity in the separate I stagesand means in each stage permitting the withdrawal ofthe separated solids. In general,

the higher the angular velocity, the .greater is the `.removal of the extra fine particles and also the greater is the overall eill'ciency of the device.

removing finely divided solids or dust from-gasv eous or vaporous streams. In the cyclone type of 2 claims. (c1. rss- 106) suspended or entrained particles of catalyst from exit streams so'that they may be returned-to the processing zone with a minimum or a controlled amount of catalyst being lost.

Presentfiuidized catalyst cracking units employing the cyclone and-multi-clone separators in plurality and in sequence operate at an elllv ciency such that a secondary step of different 'I'his type of device is particularly adapted for separator the gases and the entrained solids are' passed through in a manner that imparts a swirling motion to them. Solid particles are thus thrown bythe centrifugal action to the outer wall where they are skimmed ofi', or as in the case of this apparatus are allowed to slide down vthe wall into a collecting hopper.

One object of this invention is to increase the emciency of the cyclone tube or multi-clone" .type of separator by providing two or more-diller ent stages of separation, using two or more concentric collecting or separating tubes and a corresponding number or sets of directional vanes.

With the tubes and vanes arranged in a manner such that the gaseous ilow is given a centrifugal swirling action by the r'st set of vanes and a ilrst-stage particle separation taking' place against the outer collectingtube. the' gases then flow through the successive Isets of vanes and tubes with separation of successively liner par.

ticles being made at each stage. As the gases enter the intermediate tubes and vanes, the flow 'area becomes more restricted so that the linear velocity. of now is .therefore increasingly greater tion, the vanes may be given a greater angularity or different curvature to give further increased spinning velocity to the gases making possible, and resulting in a very emcient apparatus'.

The fiuidized catalyst cracking process for hy` drocarbon vapors has made wide use of the cy.-v

clone and centrifugal method of separation.

4Enormous amounts of catalyst are handled in to separate' the 5t t sus it ls `principle is needed for obtaining the desired overall elliciency. Also it has been found that excessive erosion has been takingplace on the outer separation tube of the present type of single-stage multi-clone. l

A further object and improvement obtained by the new form of separator, isthat the erosion' possibilities are minimized at the same time that eillciency is increased. A large portion of the suspended' solids, particularly the coarser partl- 'cles are removed in the mst-stage separation at a relatively low velocity, while successive stages.

will separate successively finer particles. Although these later stages will have higher velocities, they will handle relatively small amounts of very fine suspended particles only, and the erothrough each of the successive stages;l vIn addihopper. and from which the outer collecting. tubes sion will not be excessive with the absence of coarse particles.

" In a specific embodiment, the Ydevice. comprises three concentric separating or collecting tubes, a

corresponding number of sets of directional vanes. and a central gas outlet-tube. The outer collecting tubes will be 10.!18. extending so that their lower ends will be submerged in catalyst or dust in a collecting hopper -below the separators.. The tubes and vanes are arranged so that the gas.

or vapor ilow is downward through the vanes and upper portionsof the collecting tubes.. However. the'tlow of the cleaned gas, after passing through.

the last separatingstage, reverses and flows upward and out of the central outlet tube.

Where a large quantity of vaporous material withentrained solids must be handled, a plu- I rality of these multiplejtube devices may be used in the same manner as the present types of cyclone tubes are .used, by having a plurality `of these separating devices'lischarging into' a common closed hopper, and a tube sheet 'across the top of the hopper, `for sealing oil this vcollecting may .be suspended. The plurality of vapor outlet tubes may be suspended from an upper tubel sheet. which in turn can seal oi! the cleaned vapor outlet portion of the processchamber from the remainder of the' chamber-containing the suspended particles.

In order to make the 'features and .advantages exhausting the latter.

of the invention more apparent, reference is made to the accompanying drawing and .the following description thereof. i

'Figure 1 shows a sectional elevation of one of the multiple stage separators and a portion o! the chamber and hopper having the separator mounted therein. l Y

Figure 2 is a sectional plan taken through Figure 1, showing principally a plan view of one of the sets of directional vanes as well as cross-sections through part of the concentric vertical tubes.

In Figure l, the numeral I denotes the shell or upper head of a vessel which may be a fluidized catalyst reactor, or a regenerator, or any other type of vessel containing suspended particles in a gaseous material that require separation before A hopper chamber 2 is provided for collecting the removed particles and a tube sheet 3, at the top of the hopper chamber 2, serves to support the separation tubes as well as to close oil the hopper chamber 2 from the interior of the vessel I. Means not illustrated, nor included in this invention, must be provided for removing the separated solids in the bed 4 from the cone shaped bottom 2b of the hopper chamber 2. In the case where the-separated material of bed 4 is catalyst, it must be returned 'for reuse in the conversion process, (for the remainder of this description it will be assumed that the suspended solid being separated is a finely ground catalyst used in a conversion process).

The catalyst laden fluid stream enters the outer separation tube 5, the upper portion of which is flared to provide streamlined and equalized entrance flow to the set of directional vanes B. These vanes 6 divide the ilow into separate centrifugal streams being curved and positioned -such that they not only impart centrifugal motion to the gas or vapors, -but at the same time provide a downward component Vso that the entrained particles are thrown out and down against the inner wa11 of the tube 5 effecting their separation from the fluid stream. The catalyst particles from this rst stage of carry-off fall to the collected bed'4. 'I'he fluid gas stream after leaving the rst-stage vanes 6 enters the top of the next tube I and flows through the second set of directional vanes 8. The vanes 8, which are also shown in plan view in `Figure 2, effect a second stage of separation in the same manner as described for the rst Stage; however, the annular area is decreased at this second set of vanes 8 and the resulting increase in axial and spinning velocities eiect a separation of lsmaller particles of catalyst which were not previously removed, throwing them against the inner wall of tube 'l from which they will fall to the bed 4 in the hopper. The flow stream Y or vapor enters the bottom of the outlet tube e II and ows upward to 'the top of the process then enters the third separation tube 9 and is y given a third-stage removal by the set of vanes ID. This stage of removal is carried out-at a still higher velocity than the previous stage because of the further restriction in area, thus the very fine` catalyst particles are removed, being thrown against the inner wall of the tube v9 from which ,they fall to the bed 4 below. It is contemplated that the angle of placement as well as the radius or curvature in each set of vanes may be varied from stage to stage to give an increased spinning velocity to the material. ,It also should be noted that all of the tubes 5, I and 9 are slightly ared and tapered in a manner to give increased chamber I from which it is discharged. A tube sheet i2 is provided from which the outlet tube I I is suspended, this sheet I2 also partitions ofi the upper clean gas outlet chamber from the rest of the vessel.,` It may be'desired iu some cases to suspend the hopper chamber 2 and tube sheet 3 from this upper tube sheet I2, in which case it must be well stiilened, or the hopper 2 may, if desired, be suspended directly from the vessel head I. The tubes 5 and II are indicated as being bolted to their respective tube sheets so that they' may be detached for inspection. The inner tubes 'I and 9 as well as the vanes 6, 8, and I0 can be supported in any convenient or desired manner from the tubes 5 or II; however, they should VAbe installed so, that they are easily separable and removable.

To further illustrate the operation of the device, it will be assumed that a plurality of the devices, all similar to the one shown, are installed in the tube sheet 3 and the hopper chamber 2 and are to separate catalyst from cracked hydro- Y drawing while the remainder of the gas entersY similarly mounted separators. The flow is down through the ared entrance nozzle of tube 5 and through the first set of directional vanes 5 which effects a separation of the larger particles of the entrained material, with the removed particles falling down along the inner wall of tube 5 to the top of bed 4. It must be noted that al1 of the separating tubes, 5, l and 9 are made long and must be kept submerged below the top level of bed 4 so that the gas flow Will be sealed from passing down around the lower ends of these said tubes, 5, l and 9. The level of the bed 4 can be maintained relatively constant byl controlling the outlet llow of the collected catalyst from the hopper bottom 2b, by an outletting dip" pipe and butterfly valve, neither of which are illustrated, and which are the usual outlet means from the hopper bottom 2b. The cracked vapors, after electing one catalyst separation, enter the top of tube 1 and have a second stage of particle removal by vanes 8 and at higher linear and spinning velocities such that smaller catalyst particles are removed and fall down along the inner wall of tube 'I to the bed 4. After effecting this second stage of separation, the vapors enter the tube 9 and ow through the vanes III,.and because of the further restricted dow area, the vapors wil1 be at still higher linear and spinning velocities than for the previous stages, so that the very fine catalyst particles will be removed falling down along the inside of tube 9 to the bed 4. The cleaned hydrocarbon vapors being substantially clean of entrained catalyst enter the bottom of the outlet tube II and are discharged into the collecting space above tube sheet I2. The cracked vapors are then outlet from the top of the reactor and carried on to the -fractionation system.

In many present installations using cyclones or multi-clones for catalyst separation, it has been found that the erosion on the separation tubes show has been excessive with'holes occurring after relative short periods o f operation. The improved type of separator comprising this invention will minimize erosion by having the vapor or gas velocity' in the `rst stese of separation. where the mejor amount of catalyst is removed, low enousn to prevent excessive erosion taking place. The succeive stages, as previously described, will have increasing velocities of flow,l with s. ilow velocity in the une! separating stage that may be much higherthen present single stage velocity multi-clone installations, however, the amount of cetslyst hsndled becomes less and less for each' successive stese and the perticles become nner sothat erosion is minimized.

the drawing and preceding description only three velocity und particle carry-od sieges, it is not intended to limit this invention to three tion stages.4 Also, the use of the device need not be limited to the e tion of cstelysts in hydrocarbon 4conversion processes since this device muy well be used for separe dust or suspended solids from any iiuid stresm.

I c es my invention:

.1. A multiple steige cyclone separator compris-v ins vertical, eoncentricully spaced inner i. `.4 outer cylindrical tubes open et their upper and lower ends, the upper end of seid inner tube being in u lower horizont-s1 plone then the upper end oi said outer tube, directional venes in the upper portion oi seid outer tube shove end spaced i the upper end ci seid inner tube, directional es in the upper portion of the inner tube, me

for supp e susmon oi solids in iluid do i l1-v Wardly through the upper end of und en open-ended id discharge conduit dis-v posed centrally within said tubes end extending vertici y from u point within the inner tube below the venes in the isst-named tube to e. point obovethe upr end oi the outer tube, said discharge conduit being spaced from the inner tube und terminating a substantial distance above the lower end of the inner tube.

2. A multiple stese cyclone separator compris verticel, concentricelly speced inner und outer cylindrical tubes open et their upper und lower ends, an open-ended lnteediate tube between und spaced trom seid inner d outer tubes, the ur ends oi seid tubes up in successively low-- er horizontal p s; from outer tube to the er tube, directional i. f es in the upper portion of cli' ci d tubes'the venes oi seid intermedinte t beine d above end spaced from the upper end ci the 1 t tube und the venes of the outer tube be f., v ed ve end git-Wi.' trom upper end of the inteediei/e tube, i for supplying u s si oi solids in uid downwardly through the upper end of the outer tube, o nu cmu-ended duid discharge conduit deed centrally within seid tubes und` udine verticully from e. point within the in? ner tube below tli'e venes in the lest-named tube @H ROD.

the outer tube. 

